Monday, September 17, 2007

So, you think you know how to make French toast? Maybe you beat a couple eggs, a splash of milk, a quick dip, fry it up in some butter, drizzle with a little syrup? Sounds pretty good, and for 95% of the world that is what they consider "French Toast." But, if you want truly amazing French toast, give this classic restaurant method a try.

The main difference is the bread is sliced thicker, it's soaked in a custard batter (really, really soaked), and then after being brown slightly in a pan, it's baked. That is the real secret. The baking cooks the custard inside the bread and gives it an unbelievable texture. The outside is crisp and golden, and the contrast between the two is magical.The problem with just pan-frying is by the time the inside is really cooked, the outside is too dark and bitter. You can use thinner bread, of course, but then you don't get the same creamy, custardy, almost bread pudding-like texture, as from the thicker slices. Give this a try. The one extra step of baking it is sooo worth it. When you bite into this, I'm sure you'll agree. Enjoy!

My friend has a beach house that we crash at for the weekend sometimes. Every time, one of our friends makes an awesome baked french toast with orange extract and pecans. It's such a great way to make french toast for all the reasons you mention in your post. Thanks for describing the process!

strange i never, and I mean NEVER have or had french toast with milk!!! i am very serious, I always put a couple of eggs,some cinnamon, sugar, and a couple of other things. looks delicious! I can't stand it!!! >*<Def. have to give it a try

oh, man, memories of the French Toast of Doom at a place where i used to cook brunch - thick slices of baguette coated in amaretto custard, baked off (we only had a two-burner range reserved for frittate), then topped with amaretto creme anglaise, hot fudge, bruleed bananas (flamed in rum!), and powdered sugar. served with a fruit plate on the side so you can pretend you're being healthy ;)

by the way, i'm a culinary student and one of my chef instructors has mentioned that you're a friend of hers...

Chef John, did you use the baking sheet because you started out with (what looks to be) a non-stick pan? I'm going to try this, but I was thinking of just using a stainless steel pan and inserting it into the oven after browning. Much Thanks.

Chef John, wow that looks delicious! Do you have any alternate suggestions for bread? Like could you dry out your regular white bread (not toast it but dry it out) in an oven or should you stick to getting a day old loaf? thx!

I use a similar recipe but without the allspice and I always add a splash of maple syrup right into the custard. I like to use challah (sweet egg type) bread which I allow to stale to firm up a bit. If I'm feeling really decadant I substitute 1/2 and 1/2 for the milk portion.

Special message to Marc, who's comments had to be rejected for homophobic insults and general stupidity. It's too bad I had to reject them, they were so dumb I think most of you would have had a good laugh.

Bitter Marc, I suggest reading the preceding comments. I think the 29,072 people that viewed it on Youtube, and the 207 people that favorited it would disagree with your criticism.

I enjoy opposing views and publish 99% of the comments I receive, so I don't moderate comments because of not wanting criticism. I moderate comments because of bigots like you. Thanks for watching.

Ok so baking the bread simply hardens it up? Well I -can- get the thick bread, but it's hard to find. I live in a wee country called New Zealand, and at the time of this post it's 9:27pm Friday (the 1st) but once I post it it will say otherwise :P

Just made this for the 4th time. I used a very thin, very soft (When I say soft I mean, crumble in your hand soft)brown bread. It actually turned out great. Probably not as great as using the bread mentioned, but it was good.

Saw this video last night on YouTube and made these this morning. So crispy, so gooey, so flavorful. So Perfect! Made with some light rye bread and a drizzle of Grade A medium Amber. (Only difference is that my bread was sliced a little thinner, but it was still beautiful!) Oh MAN. You were absolutely right about how to make this.

My mother has made French toast with whole grain sandwich loaf slices and scrambled eggs (not a custard like yours) for years. While it was a sugary treat, it in no way compares to the absolute divinity of this recipe.

I am your newest fan. I love these videos. So straight-forward. So helpful. So smart! The commentary is so perfect. Please don't change into those obnoxious TV chefs that blabber on about their "4th aunt-removed little sister's best friend who likes peanut butter but can't stand jelly and OMG my boyfriend...blahblahblah". Thank you, thank you, thank you for this blog!

I discovered the baking technique completely by accident. I was making a big batch up for the whole family and put them in the oven after cooking them. When they came out -- perfection! That's the way I always make them now.

Fast order french toast is always disappointing to me -- I like my bread absolutely drippy soggy with the custard mixture.

Hi Chef,My name's Ninie, I cook a lot and I'm French. Here in France we call this recipe "Pain perdu", which means "lost bread". My kids love it. Here we just use eggs, milk and butter for frying and once it's cooked we just add sugar, honey or jam. But I'll try your recipe I promise.Sorry for my bad english.

Like Ninie I'm french so I wanted to post to tell you how we do it in france. But I can see she already explained it. Where I'm from we use slated butter for the frying. with this method, no need to put the salt in the preparation. And we also don't use fresh bread. We use old one. This recipe is to cook bread too old for eating alone and it's a low cost recipe.

It's a recipe a lot of french people know (well I assume) because it's from our history and our culture.

Greeting Chef John, I have just been introduced to your site and after only 30 min. I am already addicted! You used a silicon mat for baking in a previous recipe. Would this work will for the French Toast?Terry

Chef John, I don't have french bread AHHHH will it still work with white? Please SAY YES! And if it wont work with white bread what WILL it work with besides french bread? Because im a french toast addict and i really want to try this! Ahhhh torture!

Hi Chef! This is my first post and certainly won't be the last! I came across your blog via Google/YouTube. This recipe is superb and simple! Your clip is easy to follow, you're not in the least way annoying to listen to (lol) and I look forward to trying some of your other recipes.

I just made this and it turned out fantastic! I must say, these video recipes have helped me gain confidence in the kitchen. As a college student, the only sort of "cooking" that I was accustomed to was boiling water for pasta or making scrambled eggs. But now, I'm much more comfortable with cooking new things every week. Thanks Chef John!

Thank you for this recipe and video! I'm a disaster in the kitchen and have had one French toast failure after another. But no more! I had pretty good success with this today! Next time I will use a nonstick pan -- I didn't pick up on that in the video, but did see the suggestion in the comments. You are a great resource. I will stop back often.

Hello!First time here, was looking up french toast in google and came across your youtube video.Great recipe! I tried it today and it turned out fantastic.Look forward to checking out your website in the days to come :)

Hey Chef john! Been looking at your site for awhile now, i just don't usually have the time to makes stuff... until now! Just curious, how would it turn out well if i put a little brown sugar on top before they finished cooking in the oven?

I've already tried these, and they are really expectacular. I stopped by to check the recipe again so that tomorrow I wont mess it up. I made some cinnamon and brown sugar syrup to go with the french toasts tomorrow, and i'm also going to make some scrambled eggs. I love breakfast :). Does it show?

I tried the French toast, but served it with sauteed apples instead of the maple syrup. I think the batter needs to be sweetened if I'm not drizzling syrup over it. But it was pretty good nonetheless. Thanks.

Out of the blue I had a hanker'n for French Toast, so I baked a loaf of frozen French Bread, sliced it thick and left it out on the counter overnight in anticipation of my first attempt at homemade French Toast, courtesy of Food Wishes. Man was it delicious! Will try it again soon--maybe Easter morning--experimenting with a two-sided dip in Panko break crumbs for extra crunch.

Question for Chef John: Could I prepare the batter the night before and let the day old bread soak inside the fridge overnight? If so, would I have to cover the top of the batter bowl with plastic wrap (or whatever), or could I just leave the bowl uncovered until morning?

I love French toast and I've been trying recently to make something I found in a cookbook called "French toast casserole". The batter is the same as yours, only I place everything in a baking dish *the night before* and bake it first thing in the morning. The only problem with this is after it's finished baking it's still a soggy mess in the middle! And that's after about 30-40 mins in the oven! It's a nice golden brown, crunchy top but too soggy inside. I've tried baking it longer but then the outside burns! :( *Do you have any tips on how to rescue this recipe?

In the meantime I will try your method here even though it's not as quick! The pan frying takes time and my two year old is always tugging on me to pick him up!:) Thanks again!

I tried this today and I LOVED it! Though instead of french bread I used some cinnimon-banana bread I made yesterday so I didn't put the spices in the batter. Also I heated my surup and put a little vanilla extract in it. I think this is my new favorite breakfast.

I have tried this 3 times and each time my toast is full of runny wet egg. I used basic store bread, only 2 pieces soak up the entire mixture. I increased the time in the oven to 20 minutes at 400, but still wet runny egg inside. Not sure how to get the egg fully cooked, must take an hour.

I have tried this 3 times and each time my toast is full of runny wet egg. I used basic store bread, only 2 pieces soak up the entire mixture. I increased the time in the oven to 20 minutes at 400, but still wet runny egg inside. Not sure how to get the egg fully cooked, must take an hour.

I have tried this 3 times and each time my toast is full of runny wet egg. I used basic store bread, only 2 pieces soak up the entire mixture. I increased the time in the oven to 20 minutes at 400, but still wet runny egg inside. Not sure how to get the egg fully cooked, must take an hour.

I have tried this 3 times and each time my toast is full of runny wet egg. I used basic store bread, only 2 pieces soak up the entire mixture. I increased the time in the oven to 20 minutes at 400, but still wet runny egg inside. Not sure how to get the egg fully cooked, must take an hour.

Thanks for the great recipe! You are definitely my favorite place to go when looking for new recipes. I even featured this particular one on my blog this week. (http://blog.redrchl.com/?p=151) This one will definitely be a staple in my house.

Holy Moly... I gotta bookmark this!!! I am a french Toast addict so always looking for good recipes that make the best french toast, ill surely have this for breakfast tomorrow.. looking at picture got me drollin already! wohooo! :D

Just made this last night!! (it was a breakfast for dinner kind of night) it was my first time making French toast on my own since I moved out of my moms house and it turned out so excellent my apartment smelled like cinnamon vanilla wonderland!!! your blog completes me :D

How much sugar can be added to the custard batter so that it's not overly sweet but can be enjoyed with little or less syrup? Thanks!!!! AWESOME moist inside crusty outside just not much flavor couldn't taste the cinnamon or vanilla much... Is it ok to use half milk half buttermilk or just buttermilk? I would think I could skip the salt if I ur just buttermilk? THANKS so much for ALL that you do!!!

Most people don't seem to understand that this recipe needs a specific type of bread. For the lazy people that don't want to get the proper ingredients just use your regular bread and simply lightly dip the bread and decrease the time in the oven a bit. It turns out wonderful.

Thank you chef John. I've always wondered what the good restaurants (and by no means is every restaurant good) were doing to get such awesome French Toast. Thanks to you, I know. . . now, off to the kitchen to make French Toast for my kids for breakfast!

I had prepared a favorable comment beforehand. Don't know what happened to it but will attempt to send another.I am recently retired, a senior citizen and one who hadn't had a lot of confidence in my cooking skills. That is, until I found you and discovered the "Joy in Cooking". I've been spending HOURS enjoying how to go about food preparation/presentation. Thank you Chef John!!

Thanks for another great recipe Chef John! I hosted a "breakfast for dinner" party the other night and was looking for recipes I could finish in the oven do that I could free up the stove for frittatas, and came across this one. I used thick slices of challah bread that I dried in the oven for about 10 minutes at 200 degrees before dipping in the egg mixture. Other than that, I followed the recipe and method exactly. Both the flavor and texture were amazing. All my guests raved!